[Erwin]

Today at 12:48 PM Steve Machol said this in Post #4
True, but there are distinct advantages to registering a copyright in the U.S.:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#cr

• Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
• Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin.
• If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.

Advantages are for the copyright holder - who is the author of the work. If you copied my work, you are not the author, so you don't have copyright and thus any copyright you register is false and invalid in the first place.

I do appreciate that I am no expert in US law - I am just stating general legal principles and property law principles here - it's the nemo dat principle - if it's not yours to begin with, you can't register it or deal with it as you choose. Maybe Sinan (Logician) or an US-based lawyer can correct me.

By no means am I saying I am definitely correct - like drives-fast said, legal principles are there to be argued - nothing is truly set in stone.